Hotel interactive communication apparatus

ABSTRACT

A PABX switching network adapted to provide an interactive communication service to hotel guests comprises guest extension lines (4) each serving a telephone apparatus (3) located in individual guest rooms (2). The PABX system (1) is capable of interrogating a property management system (7) identifying the status of each guest room, and to couple a calling telephone apparatus (3) to an interactive call answering system (9) in order to provide a variety of call answering services to a hotel guest, depending upon the status of the guest room as indicated by the property management system (7). Each telephone station (3) incorporates a unique identify signal capable of being interrogated by the PABX (1) in order to enable information from the property management system (7) to be coordinated to the individual hotel guest rooms.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a hotel interactive communication apparatuscapable of responding to a call established from a guest room via ahotel telephone exchange system, in order to provide automatically, viathe telephone exchange system, an information or other service demandedby the caller.

BACKGROUND

There is known from Ericson Review Vol.61, No.1, Stockholm SE, P51-58,R. DIETSCh `Hotel Communication System`, a hotel communication apparatuscomprising a PABX switching network providing a plurality of guestextension lines each coupled to a respective communication stationprovided in a guest room, and a property management system for storingroom status information concerning each of a plurality of guest roomsserved by said guest extension lines, each guest communication stationincluding signalling means operable by a caller for establishing aswitched connection, via the PABX switching network.

With the increasing sophistication of modern telephone exchange systems,it is becoming possible for a telephone exchange to provide to a callera variety of services ancillary to the primary function of the exchangeof establishing a switched telephone connection to a single party at aselected destination telephone line. Thus, a modern telephone exchangecan provide for multi-party conference calls, so-called `chat-lines`,and a variety of information and entertainment services involving thereplaying of recorded messages or selected audio entertainment.EP-A-0453831 describes a system providing control of access to servicesof the exchange such as call answering based upon identityacknowledgement. A more recent innovation enables a calling party toselect a conversation call to another unknown party selected from a poolof available participants based upon characteristic critera deemed bythe calling party to be desirable in a party to be called.

The present invention is based upon the concept that the temporaryresidents in a hotel at any given time represent a pool of potentialculling parties to whom could be provided services of the kind availablefrom a public telephone switching system, but which, in the context ofthe society represented by the transient population of a hotel, can beall the more valuable in that the services can be targeted at providingto a hotel guest, useful services hitherto unavailable in the hotelcontext.

However, the provision of facilities such as the above in the context ofa hotel containing an essentially transient population involvesdifficulties that do not exist with the analogous services provided bythe public telephone exchange system wherein each calling party can beidentified in terms of an established subscriber exchange line.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention a hotel communication apparatus as netout above is characterised in said PABX network further provides aplurality of interactive extension lines each coupled to an interactiveport of a call answering apparatus, that said property management systemhas a room status port capable of being interrogated by said callanswering apparatus, that each guest communication station can establisha connection via an interactive extension lined to said call answeringapparatus and further includes identity means individual to that stationfor providing via said switched connection a signal identifying the roomserved thereby; that said call answering apparatus includes meansresponsive to establishment of such a switched connection for obtainingfrom the identity means of the calling station a corresponding identitysignal, means for interrogating said property management system todetermine the status of the room sending means arranged to provide tothe calling station a message dependent upon the determined status ofsaid room, and that said call answering apparatus is further arranged toestablish a pool of guest extension lines determined by selectioncriteria common to occupants of the corresponding guest rooms and tooffer to a calling party the facility of establishing a one-to-onetelephone connection with another extension line of said pool by theinput of matching selection criteria. Via an appropriate characteristiccriteria selection facility, a hotel guest can thus make contact withone or more selected parties from an available pool of willingparticipants, on the basis of a common interest. Thus, for example, aperson staying alone in a hotel could seek a partner for dinner basedupon an identification of common interests or could locate, for example,another party seeking a partner for a game of tennis, golf or the like.

In accordance with the invention the automatic exchange system is alsoable to perform a management function in establishing the identity of acalling party in terms of the relevant hotel room number, establishingthe status of the corresponding hotel room, for example whether thehotel room is vacant or is validly let to a hotel guest, and providing acorresponding message to a calling party. Thus, for example, if a callis received from a hotel room identified as vacant and not having validstatus for the establishment of a call to the interactive service, amessage can be returned indicating that the requested call cannot beconnected. If the status of the calling room is valid, then a messagecan be returned offering a variety of services to the caller, andrequesting transmission of a signal selecting a corresponding service.The interactive communication apparatus will include logic means fordetecting the corresponding signal received from the caller andprogrammed to respond by providing an appropriate service to the callerand/or by offering a further stage of selection to which the controlprogram can respond

Further preferred features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a hotel interactive communication apparatusin accordance with one embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 2A-2C are a flow chart illustrating the programmed functioning ofthe apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated the general arrangement of ahotel interactive communication system in accordance with the invention,wherein the reference numeral 1 indicates the hotel PABX telephoneexchange system which is of generally known type. The reference numeral2 indicates a block of hotel guest rooms each of which includes a DTMFtelephone 3 coupled to the exchange 1 via a corresponding one of aplurality of guest extension telephone lines indicated at 4.

The PABX 1 is coupled to external exchange lines as indicateddiagrammatically at 5 and also includes internal, programmed logiccircuitry, not illustrated, coupled by means of a data bus 6 to aproperty management system controlled by the hotel management staff.This provides, inter alia, status information concerning each of thehotel guest rooms. Thus for example the property management system canbe set to indicate whether a hotel room is vacant, or is validlyoccupied by a guest registered for access to the telephone exchangesystem. Such features are well-known features of existing hotel PABXsystems and will not therefore be described in detail.

In accordance with the invention, each telephone station 3 is providedwith means capable of being interrogated via the corresponding extensionline 4 to provide a unique identity signal identifying the room numberserved by the telephone station. The PABX 1 is further coupled viainteractive extension telephone lines 8 to a hotel interactive systemillustrated generally at 9.

The PABX 1 is further provided with a plurality of multiline extensions10 coupled to a multiline system 11 that can be utilised, in knownmanner, for establishing multiparty connections via the PABX i forexample for the purpose of establishing conference calls, chat linecalls, or one-to-one connections to an unknown party based on the inputof selection criteria.

The hotel interactive system 9 is provided by a micro computercontaining interface cards, not illustrated, coupled to the interactiveextension lines 8 and capable of responding to DTMF signals transmittedby the lines 8 to perform corresponding logic functions for the purposeof replaying selected recorded messages to the caller, recordingmessages transmitted by the caller, or establishing a switchedconnection via the PABX 1 to the caller using the multiline unit 11 andselected multiline extensions 10. The function of such interface cardswill be well-known to one skilled in the art and thus will not bedescribed herein in further detail. The system 9 additionally comprisesa data port coupled by a data bus 12 to a room inventory port 13 of thePABX 1, via which status information concerning the hotel guest rooms 2can be obtained from the PABX 1, and a data port coupled via a data bus14 to the multiline unit 11. These data ports may, for example, comprisethe conventional RS232 ports of a micro computer.

The system 9 is further coupled to a monitor 15 and a printer 16 inconventional manner, via which the operation of the system can besupervised by an operator.

The operation of the system of FIG. 1 will now be described in moredetail with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 2.

In order to access the hotel interactive system, a hotel guest will dialan appropriate in house number on the room telephone station and will beconnected to an available interactive extension line 8 via the PABX 1. Aringing signal is applied to the line 8 as indicated at point 20 at thecommencement of the flow chart of FIG. 2. The control programme of theinteractive system 9 will then cause the appropriate interface card toanswer the call and transmit an answering message to the caller asindicated at point 21. At the same time, the calling telephone station 3will be interrogated by the hotel interactive system to obtain amultifrequency tone signal identifying the room number in which thetelephone station is located. Via the data bus 12 the system 9 willobtain from the room inventory port 13 of the PABX 1 data indicating thestatus of the corresponding room, as indicated at point 22. If the roominteractive port 13 indicates an invalid status for the room, theprogramme will branch to point 23 at which the inactive extensioninterface card is caused to transmit an appropriate message to thecaller, as indicated in the box 23, and will then disconnect the call asindicated at point 24.

If the room interactive port 13 indicates a valid status of the roomnumber, then the programme will proceed to level 1 at which a furthermessage is transmitted to the caller as indicated within box 25.Following the transmission of the message the programme proceeds tolevel 2, at which the interactive extension interface card is enabled toreceive one of four optional signals capable of being transmitted viathe DTMF key pad. Upon receipt of a corresponding signal the programmewill branch to one of four available paths as indicated by boxes25,26,27 and 28. Alternatively, in conventional manner the caller willbe returned to an earlier level of the programme if a wrong signal istransmitted, or the system will time out and disconnect if no signal isreceived within a predetermined period of time.

In accordance with the key signal transmitted, the programme will causea corresponding answering message to be transmitted to the caller, asindicated in each of the corresponding boxes 25,26,27 and 28. Theinterface card of system 9 is then again placed in a condition in whichit is enabled to receive a further multifrequency signal enabling acaller to select a corresponding service as already described for level2 of the programme.

Thus, if the programme has branched to box 25 at level 2, the user hasthe option of setting up a business conference call by pressing button 1of his key pad and causing the programme to branch to box 29 forselection of a business conference module of the programme; if theprogramme has branched to box 26 the caller has the option of branchingto one of boxes 30,31 and 32 for selection of programme modules to setup an insomniacs conference, a quiz game or a one-to-one conversationbased on selection criteria; if the programme has branched to box 27 thecaller can select module 33 for the provision of tourist information ormodule 34 enabling an excusion reservation to be made; if the programmehas branched to box 28 the caller can select module 35 to obtaininformation on restaurant specialities, module 36 to receive a recordedmessage giving the breakfast menu and times or module 37 or 38 to enablerecording of an appropriate message for the hotel management. It will beappreciated that functioning of the individual modules 29 to 38 can beachieved according to known techniques familiar to one skilled in theart, and these individual functions do not form part of the invention.

Whilst one example of the invention has been described above, it will beappreciated that various alterations and modifications may be made tothe apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus,although the system has been described as operating with standard DTMFtelephone handsets coupled to the guest extensions 4, it will beappreciated that in place of the telephone handsets or in additionthereto each hotel room may be provided with a video text terminalcoupled to the guest extension line via an appropriate modem. The hotelinteractive system 9 will then, instead of the interface cards describedabove, or in addition thereto, be provided with video text interfacecards and corresponding modems coupled to interactive extension lines 8.

Thus it will be seen that an arrangement in accordance with theinvention serves to provide a hotel guest with novel facilitiesspecifically adapted to a hotel environment.

We claim:
 1. A hotel communication apparatus comprising a PABX switching network connected to a plurality of guest extension lines each coupled to a respective guest communication station provided in a guest room, and a property management system connected to said PABX switching network for storing room status information concerning each of a plurality of guest rooms served by said guest extension lines, each guest communication station including signalling means operable by a caller for establishing a switched connection, via the PABX switching network, wherein said PABX switching network is further connected to a plurality of interactive extension lines each coupled to an interactive port of a call answering apparatus, said property management system having a room status port capable of being interrogated by said call answering apparatus, each guest communication station being adapted to establish said switched connection via said PABX switching network and an interactive extension line, to said call answering apparatus, each guest communication station further including identity means individual to that guest communication station for providing via said switched connection an identity signal identifying the room served thereby; wherein said call answering apparatus includes means responsive to establishment of said switched connection for obtaining from the identity means of a calling guest communication station the identity signal associated therewith, means responsive to the identity signal for interrogating said property management system to determine the status of the room corresponding to said identity signal and answering message sending means responsive to said determined status for providing via said switched connection, a message to the calling quest communication station, which message is dependent upon the determined status of said room, and wherein said call answering apparatus is further arranged to establish a pool of said guest extension lines determined by selection criteria common to occupants of corresponding guest rooms and to offer to a calling party an opportunity to establish a one-to-one telephone connection with another extension line of said pool by inputting matching selection criteria.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each said guest communication station comprises a DTMF telephone.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each said guest communication station comprises a video text terminal.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said answering message sending means includes a first answering message module arranged to send in response to determination of an invalid room status, a first answering message advising that a call cannot be completed and arranged to send in response to determination of a valid room status, a second message inviting a caller to select one of a plurality of call answering services by transmitting a corresponding signal from the calling guest communication station.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 4, further including a second answering message module arranged to become enabled upon transmission of said second answering message and to respond to any one of a plurality of predetermined signals capable of being transmitted from the calling station by transmitting for each signal a corresponding answering message.
 6. An apparatus according to claim 4, further including a message recording module arranged to become enabled upon transmission of said second answering message and to respond to a predetermined signal transmitted from the calling station. 